Women's Lacrosse Late Rally Falls Short in 11-10 Loss to Southern Maine

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The visiting University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse team outlasted Bridgewater State University, 11-10, on Friday evening at Mazzaferro Field.

The Huskies improve to 3-2 on the season while the Bears fall to 3-6. The win marked the first for Southern Maine over Bridgewater State in four tries.

USM goalkeeper Cece Racine (Lewiston, Maine) made 14 saves to backstop the Huskies to the victory. Ten of Racine's 14 saves came in the second half including six in the fourth quarter.

Rachel Shanks (Naples, Maine) tallied four goals and an assist to highlight the Southern Maine offense while Kiaya Gatchell (Portland, Maine) recorded a hat trick and Anna Byers (Milford, Conn.) notched two goals and a pair of helpers.

Erin McIntyre (Tewksbury, Mass.) paced Bridgewater State with four goals and two assists. Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added two goals and an assist for the Bears who also received two markers from Meredith Sylvia (South Dartmouth, Mass.).

The game was tightly contested throughout with neither team leading by more than three goals.

The Huskies led 7-6 at the break and 9-8 heading into the final quarter.

Shanks converted off an assist from Byers to open the fourth quarter scoring and Catriona Gould (Freeport, Maine) scored on the player advantage with Paige Rinaldi (Freeport, Maine) collecting the assist to give the Huskies an 11-8 lead with 8 ½ minutes left to play.

Hannah Bowlby (Dalton, Mass.) set up McIntyre for back-to-back tallies with the second goal coming with 2:51 showing on the scoreboard to close the gap to 11-10.

The Bears had multiple opportunities to knot the equalizer in the closing minutes, but Racine produced three clutch saves and the Huskies forced a turnover with the final seconds ticking away to preserve the win.

Bridgewater held a 31-27 shot advantage for the game. The Bears also finished with the edge in ground balls (18-17) and caused turnovers (16-7). Sylvia recorded a game-best four caused turnovers while Bridget Lane (Newburyport, Mass.) forced three turnovers.

The Huskies won the draw control battle, 14-10, with Byers leading all players with six draws. Savannah Herrington (Kinnelon, N.J.) registered five draw controls for the Bears.

Bridgewater went just 3-for-10 off the free position. Southern Maine converted 2 of 4 free position attempts. Five of Racine's 14 saves came on free position shots.

Laura Giovaniello (Walpole, Mass.) and Brooke La Torra (Oak Park, Calif.) combines to make ten saves between the pipes for the Bears.

Bridgewater State opens Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) play on Tuesday night as the Bears travel to Buzzards Bay to take on the Buccaneers of Massachusetts Maritime Academy at seven o'clock. Southern Maine is off until Saturday, March 30th (1:00 PM) when the Huskies head to Keene State College to open Little East Conference play against the Owls.